


Soup for the Sheriff

by kilt



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), ouat
Genre: Cold, F/F, Storybrooke, Swan Queen - Freeform, bed, sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2017-12-17 13:31:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/868117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kilt/pseuds/kilt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma is sick and Regina visits her. Set during season 1 in Storybrooke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was only 11 in the morning, but Emma couldn't wait for Mary Margaret to return from school already. She had a strong cold and couldn't move a finger without a lingering pain going through her body. Her lungs were sore from coughing and a pounding headache rummaged in her head. Over the year, Emma figured out that her colds are following a certain pattern: at first, she has a sore throat, then she gets a massive headache, fatigue sets in, fever, aching limbs and in the very end of her cold her nose starts to run.  
Regarding her recent state of illness, no running nose yet, which means there was still more to endure until she would be healthy again.  
When Mary Margaret was at home, she made food and tea for Emma, but when she's at work there was no way for Emma to get any food without having to crawl on the floor, because she was that weak. All she could do was sleep and wait for Mary Margaret to return this afternoon.  
Emma turned around in bed with a moan and fell asleep again.

* * *

A key was put in the lock and the door was unlocked. Emma woke up in surprise. Steps made their way upstairs, but not the familiar muffled slippers, but a rather loud sound like the clicking of high heels on wooden steps.  
“Miss Swan, rumor has it that you are battling a fierce cold and in order to support your recovery, I brought some of my specialties against colds and other vicious illnesses.” Regina Mills stood in front of the bed with a beaming smile.  
Emma stared in bewilderment at Regina standing in front of her in her flat with a basket of food. Emma didn't have the fainted idea of a hungry feeling, but she was definitely craving for some strength in her weak limbs.  
“M- Madam Mayor! I didn't expect you to come!” Emma croaked.  
“You most certainly didn't, no.” a wide smile graced her face “but I felt the duty to take care of you as long as Ms Blanchard is at work. I have: chicken soup, cooked carrot sticks and some refreshing yoghurt with pineapple slices.”  
She placed the basket on a nearby table and walked back towards Emma: “Please try to sit up I will adjust the pillow in your back.”  
Regina bowed forward while Emma was struggling to get up. Gravity is three or four times stronger if you're sick, Emma thought.  
When Regina moved to the basket a whiff of her perfume, not one of those flowery ones, but one of those whose wearer you can already imagine when you breathe in the scent. An elegant, graceful woman. That's how the perfume smelled like. Thank God, my nose isn't clogged yet.  
“You don't have to do this!” Emma suddenly protested.  
“Oh, Miss Swan, I am quite sure that you need something to eat and without good chicken soup you won't be on your feet any soon.” Regina beamed at Emma with that awfully broad smile Emma simply can't resist.  
Regina opened one of the containers and took a spoon in one hand, a napkin in the other and walked towards Emma again. She gently placed the napkin on Emma's chest and handed her the container with the soup and the spoon.  
“Thanks” Emma mumbled while she shoved the first spoonful in her mouth.  
“Be careful, the soup is still very hot.”  
Emma grimaced, because she burned her tongue.  
“Didn't I tell you?! Don't be so greedy.” Regina threw a crooked, slightly malicious smile at her.  
“Mhm.”  
The soup tasted delicious and was exactly the kind of thing Emma needed. Hot soup, lying in bed and Regina. She couldn't care less about the rest of the world in that very moment.  
Regina took a chair and propped it next to Emma's bed and sat down.  
“Your merry flatmate will come back at 4:15, so you still have enough time to finish the food I brought with me.”  
“Why do you know when Mary Margaret is going home? You don't live near her workplace or our flat.” Emma's eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
“Miss Swan, this is certainly no concern of yours, so don't wreck your pretty little head about it.”  
Emma was dumbstruck and couldn't form a proper reply. She called me pretty?  
For the rest of the time, they didn't say anything and Emma went on enjoying the situation. Every now and then she glanced to her right. Regina didn't look like she was in a hurry at all. As the mayor doesn't she have something more important to do than caring for Storybrooke's sheriff?  
She finished the soup, the cooked carrot sticks and now she was starting to eat the yoghurt with pineapple slices, but the fruit acid hurt her throat and made her cough.  
Regina quickly turned towards Emma and looked at her I concern. Then it began to dawn on her: “Of course! Your sore throat! Pineapples don't get along with a sore throat. I am sorry that I forgot, Emma.”  
“It's alright. Just a little scratch in the throat.” Emma's eyes grew wide. What is going on?! She addressed me with my first name!  
Regina bit her lip in slight embarrassment.  
“I guess you're finished now. I hope the food was to your taste and I apologize once more for the pineapples, Miss Swan.” Regina put away the containers and the napkin.  
She packed her picnic basket, straightened her pencil skirt and smiled at Emma, still flustered: “Get well soon, Sheriff Swan!”  
“Th- thanks” but Regina was already gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the idea for this story. I only borrowed the characters.

As quietly as she could, Emma tiptoed upstairs. She was so glad Henry did not catch her in a lie, when she made up the story about needing his fairy tale book as soon as possible so she gave her the keys to the Mills house, or rather the Mills mansion. Never has Emma seen this much marble in a private home.  
She checked the doors looking for the master bedroom. It took her four doors until Emma finally found the room she was looking for.  
She cleared her throat and stepped inside: “Madam Mayor, I heard that you've caught a cold, so I–“  
“What are you–“ her sudden outburst caused Regina to cough “why are you in my house? Who led– oh, of course, Henry.” She rolled her eyes and sat up. Emma sprinted forward and wanted to help her adjust the pillow behind her back but Regina swatted Emma's hand. With some effort, Regina managed to arrange the pillow herself.  
“I. Am. Fine. There is no need to help me. Don't you have something else to do, like catching criminals or breaking your neck somewhere far from here, Sheriff Swan?”  
“Sorry to disappoint you, but today's to do list for me is you. Well, um, I mean looking after you.” She nervously rubbed her neck with her free hand. In her right hand she held a thermos bottle filled with soup from Granny's. Of course, Emma did not tell Ruby why she brought along a thermos bottle to the diner, when Ruby shot her a suspicious glance.  
Emma remembered where she left off and why she was actually at the Mayor's home: “Yeah, um, and I brought soup. Not that I can cook or anything. I got it at Granny's. Where are the soup bowls in your kitchen?” When Emma looked at Regina for the first time this visit properly, she realized how unreal she looked like. Well, she did not wear make-up, of course, but her hair was only slightly tousled and uneven. How did she do that? When you're sick you like a mess, but not Regina. Even with a mean cold she managed to look decent.  
“Look, I don't need you here at all. Compared to you, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself while being sick. There is also no need to return the favor. You don't owe me one because of that one time I brought you food when you were sick. So would you kindly leave my house now and leave me alone? Thank you.” She lay down again and turned around.  
“Not until I've seen you finish this soup. So, where are the soup bowls?”  
“Cupboard on the far right, bottom shelf. Spoons are in the drawer next to the sink.”  
Once Emma found what she was looking for in the kitchen, she poured some soup into the bowl and started looking for tea, a kettle and a mug. She filled the kettle with water and placed it on the stove. Regina had sage tea, but not the cheap tea bags from the supermarket but that kind of sage tea in a big bag without individual tea bags you have to put in another empty tea bag. The fancy one.  
Now Emma had to look for empty tea bags, too. Soon the water started to boil and Emma also found a tea bag to fill. She poured herself a cup of wild brier tea because she did not want to turn on Regina's coffee machine and cause more trouble than necessary.  
She was not able to find that tray Regina brought along when Emma was sick so she placed all the mugs and the bowl on a wooden cutting board and did her best not to stumble and cause a mess on her way back upstairs.  
“Here we go, Madam Mayor. A deliciously hot soup and sage tea for you.”  
“Did you bring a napkin? Eating soup in bed is usually a very drippy matter.”  
“I'll be right back!” Emma sprinted out of the bedroom but quickly returned: “Uh, where can I find a napkin?”  
Regina sighed: “There's a wardrobe next to the bathroom. Second to last shelf. Use one of the napkins from the bottom. Those are the oldest I don't use for dinner anymore.”  
Obediently, Emma left once again and after some moments passed, she returned with a slightly raggedly looking napkin: “This one?”  
Regina nodded irritatedly.  
“So, there we are again.” Emma handed Regina the DIY tray and Regina looked at her questioningly “I didn't find the tray, so I used a wooden cutting board. Sorry.”  
Regina blew on the spoon filled with still hot soup while Emma pulled a chair to the bed.  
“Oh, no. Don't you even think of staying here.” uttered Regina as soon as she swallowed her first spoonful of soup. “What you did is more than enough.”  
“I won't leave before you've emptied that mug and your soup bowl. And, surprise, I will also do the dishes, so you don't have to deal with doing the dishes either.”  
Regina's facial expression softened in amazement.  
Rather awkwardly, Emma sat next to Regina's bed and tried not to stare at Regina for too long. She did not want to look around her bedroom either and be a creep so she settled for fixating the floor in front of her and an occasional glance at Regina. Emma sipped her tea.  
When Regina finished her soup and tea, Emma put the cutting board on the nightstand next to Regina and helped her lay down again. She was so close she could see Regina's fatigue and weakness caused by the cold. Regina needed sleep more than anything now.  
Emma got up and opened the wardrobe next to the bathroom, because she remembered seeing a couple of washcloths there. She soaked it in cold water from the bathroom sink and returned to the master bedroom. Regina's forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat from the fever so Emma gently put the wet washcloth on Regina's forehead. She didn't even flinch, but she visibly relaxed from the coolness of the washcloth.  
Emma walked downstairs and poured herself another cup of wild briar and returned to the bedroom. While she was sipping her tea she could observe Regina more closely. Now that she's asleep.  
Her even breathing showed that she was calmly dozing off.  
Lost in thoughts, Emma did not realize how much time she spent at Regina's house. It was already getting dark outside, but she didn't care. No one took care of Regina and Henry's a kid. It's not his job to take care of his mother without the help from an adult.  
Emma heard someone entering the house: “I'm home, mom.” It was Henry.  
She walked downstairs and greeted a confused looking Henry: “Hey, um, I took care of your mom. No one looked after her and so, um, I'm going to stay here until she got rid of her cold again. You want pizza tonight?”  
“I knew you made up this whole 'ohh, I need your fairy tale book, Henry' story. But yeah, great idea. I'm starving.”  
Relieved, Emma flung her arm around Henry's shoulder and squeezed it. “Thanks, man.”


End file.
